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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27664448">Chasing Ghosts</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/oliveornothing/pseuds/oliveornothing'>oliveornothing</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternative Universe - FBI, Ben Solo is a Mess, F/M, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I don't need to be writing anything else but oh well, Murder Mystery, Park ranger Ben Solo, Rey is a crime-fighting badass, Serial Killers, and a hell of a forensic scientist, extremely mild Poe/Rey very briefly, like they went on a couple of dates</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 22:36:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,617</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27664448</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/oliveornothing/pseuds/oliveornothing</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When young women start to disappear from the trails of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, Ben Solo and his fellow park rangers are at a loss. By the time the first body is found, 4 women are missing, and no one knows who the next victim could be. That's when the FBI steps in, with infinitely more resources and a team that could solve this case. If only the team's up and coming forensic expert, Rey Kanata, could get along with the arrogant, reclusive park ranger assigned to help them. Can the two of them stop butting heads for long enough to catch a ghost?</p><p>OR </p><p>Modern AU in which Rey is a badass FBI agent, along with Finn, her profiling partner, and Poe, their team leader, and Ben is a reclusive, surly park ranger who just wants to get this case solved so these people will go away.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Chasing Ghosts</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hey to everyone reading! This idea popped into my head a while ago and I just had to write it! I have so many AU ideas, but this one has been my favorite so far. I hope you guys like reading it as much as I love writing it! </p><p>I will be taking inspiration from real cases and I will try to make everything as accurate as I can, BUT I know very little about working for the FBI or being a park ranger so bear with me. </p><p>Also, for those who are reading my other fic, and waiting for a new chapter that has taken ridiculously long, all my progress on my latest chapters is lost for now, due to a computer issue, so I'm waiting to see if all of that can be recovered before publishing the next chapter :( It shouldn't be too much longer.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chasing Ghosts</strong>
</p><p>Chapter 1</p><p>
  <em>A Ghost in the Night </em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>            As the sun sank beneath the northwest rim of a sprawling canyon, casting dying rays of orange light into the ravine, a shadow moved between the trees of the dense forest at the bottom. The rush of water from the nearby river that cut through the canyon masked the sound of footsteps. The dry crunch of dead leaves being crushed underfoot.</p><p>            A lone woman walked in the trail next to the river, her shadow lengthening as the sun continued its descent below the horizon. The dying sun cast an eerie, bloody light behind her as she hiked along, unaware of the pair of eyes that watched her from the trees. Her breath fogged the cold air each time she exhaled and her eyes darted nervously from the trail to her phone, slowing to a stop, likely looking at a trail map for a way back to the lodge. And she was close. Oh so close.</p><p>            But as she turned in the direction of the lodge, a scream died in her throat as a gloved hand clamped around her mouth and her feet dragged across the dusty path. The woman kicked and thrashed as she was dragged into the shadows, her attempts to cry for help muffled by the thick fabric of a glove. The shadows deepened as the sun finally disappeared below the lip of the canyon, the moon rising to take its place as the frantic shuffling of leaves in the forest faded to silence.</p><p>            A single, shrill scream pierced the night before all was still, and a ghost once again blended into the night.</p>
<hr/><p>            Hundreds of miles to the east, hours later, in the small town of Woodbridge, Virginia, Rey Kanata’s alarm was screaming.  Resisting the urge to smack the snooze button, she dragged herself into an upright position and out of her bed, mourning the loss of warmth from her cozy blankets. She groaned at the unnaturally bright light filtering through the window. That kind of light could only be so blinding from reflecting off a layer of fresh snow.</p><p>            The hardwood floor was cold beneath her feet as she threw open her closet, snatching her favorite black dress pants and white button-up blouse from their hangers and hanging them on the bathroom door as she hopped into the shower. She set the water to scalding, hoping to burn some energy into her tired body, scrubbing with vigor to get her blood flowing. She wrapped her hair up in a towel when she finished, dressing quickly before the cool air could chill her damp skin. From across the apartment, she could hear the sound of her roommate, Finn, stirring as well. When she had brushed her teeth and applied the light makeup she wore to work each day, she made her bed and met Finn in the kitchen.</p><p>            Bacon crackled in a pan on the stove and its delicious aroma filled the air in the kitchen. Steam rolled off the food in the saucepan, warming the room. Finn stood at the stove, cracking eggs into another pan and humming “Baby It’s Cold Outside”. Rey smiled, reaching beside him to grab plates and glasses and set them on the bar that separated the kitchen from the living area. She poured orange juice into the glasses.</p><p>            “Good morning,” Finn said cheerily as her plopped an egg and some bacon onto their plates and sat at the counter. He, much unlike his roommate, was one of those dreaded ‘morning people’.</p><p>            “Good morning, Finn, you angel. What would I do without you?”</p><p>            Finn’s reply was muffled by a mouthful of bacon. “Like I tell you every morning when you ask, you’d starve.”</p><p>            “One of these days you’re going to have to teach me how to cook. What if some girl steals you away from me and I have to fend for myself?”</p><p>            Finn laughed. “I guess you’d have to survive on cereal and takeout.”</p><p>            Rey responded with a playful glare. “I happen to like my diet of cereal and takeout,”</p><p>            He snorted. “All I’m saying is that you’re lucky your metabolism still thinks you’re a poor college student, instead of a 26 year-old professional,  and hasn’t caught up to you yet.”</p><p>            She didn’t reply, and instead opted to shovel down the rest of her breakfast, but gave Finn a gentle shove on the shoulder. She drained the rest of her orange juice on the  way to the sink to wash her plate, and washed the other dishes on the stove, setting them in a rack to dry as Finn finished his plate. “You better go get dressed, or you’ll make me late again.”</p><p>            Rey tossed the comment over her shoulder as she retreated to her bedroom to grab her shoes and coat. She pushed her arms through her long, blazer-style jacket before shoving her feet into pointy brown stilettos. The coat was her favorite, knee-length and patterned with dusty brown and black plaid, and warm without being too bulky. At first, she had come home from work every day with blisters on her feet, but after a year of working in her new job, she hardly felt them anymore.</p><p>            To say that Rey was a workaholic was an understatement. Most people worked to live. Rey lived to work. She’d graduated from Penn State University a year early, at 21, after moving from England to earn an undergraduate degree in forensic science, with a focus on DNA analysis. After graduation, she began working with the Pennsylvania state police to gain experience, before transferring to the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, earning her badge as an investigator, but settling into a job in the lab there. There, she had met Finn, who was her partner when she was called out of the lab, and did his own work as a profiler and an instructor in the Behavioral Analysis Unit. They’d been working together for a year, and living together for almost as long.</p><p>            Rey’s heels clicked on the floor as she left her room and she pulled a stool out to sit and wait for Finn to dress. Pulling her phone from her bag, which Finn teased her for, saying it made her look like a librarian. It was a leather tote, that looked a little like a briefcase, but didn’t have a hard case, and had slots to hold papers and other work materials. She checked the time. Finn had about two minutes before she dragged him out the door by his ear. Traffic towards Quantico was heavy in the morning, the roads clogged by those commuting to Washington, D.C. for work, and Rey would be damned if they were late again. She and Finn had been chewed out by Special Agent Erso, their supervisor, and she didn’t want a repeat of the situation anytime soon.</p><p>            “Finn!” she yelled, “If I don’t get my coffee this morning because you’re preening like a teenage girl, you owe me big time!”</p><p>            He rushed out of his bedroom, hopping on one foot and putting his dress shoe on the other. “Keep your pants on, Kanata, I’m coming.”</p><p>            She rolled her eyes. “I’ll drive.”</p>
<hr/><p>            Half an hour, and two lattes later, Finn and Rey were scanned into headquarters at Quantico. “I’m never letting you drive again. I forgot why I’m usually the one to do it. ”</p><p>            Finn side-eyed her as they stepped on the elevator.</p><p>            She rolled her eyes. “Well if your excessive time spent in the bathroom every morning didn’t jeopardize my coffee run, I wouldn’t have to drive so fast.”</p><p>            Finn ignored her.</p><p>            He stepped off the elevator on the BAU’s floor, giving her a mock salute before leaving her alone in the elevator. Rey sipped her chestnut and praline latte, a seasonal favorite of hers, as the elevator zipped to the sixth floor lab. Discarding her coffee, she swiped into the DNA lab, shedding her jacket and replacing it with a white lab coat, hooking her pager into the breast pocket. Like doctors in a hospital, the special agents at the academy were called to briefings and emergent cases using pagers. It was simpler and more efficient than using cell phones.</p><p>            Before sitting at her workstation, she pulled her hair into a bun on the top of her head, securing it with a ponytail holder from a drawer on the lab bench. Zorii and Cal, her coworkers, had beaten her there, and sat at their respective lab benches. Zorii was micropipetting samples into tubes, her brows drawn together in concentration, while Cal studied something under a microscope. Cal looked up and smiled, giving her a little wave and returning to his work, while Zorii didn’t look up, but raised a hand in greeting. Rey smiled and inclined her head to the pair before donning a pair of latex gloves. After sterilizing the benchtop and her gloves with ethanol, she grabbed a test tube rack and loaded it with samples from the PCR machine.</p><p>            “So, Rey,” Zorii had finally looked up from her samples, “We’re all going to the city for drinks later. You in?”</p><p>            By ‘all’ Zorii meant her and Cal, Poe Dameron, a top special agent in D.C., and a few of his buddies. The usual crowd, more often than not, included Rey and Finn. The city, of course, meant D.C., which was about 45 minutes from the Academy.</p><p>            “I’ll have to talk to Finn, but if he’s in, I’m in,” she replied, mixing a concoction for agarose gel in a large beaker.</p><p>            She poured the mixture into a gel plate, and sat back down to wait for it to set.</p><p>            “Great! It was Cal’s pick tonight, so we’re going to <em>Jedi,” </em>Zorii said the name of the old dive and dance club as if it were a dirty word, rolling her eyes.</p><p>            Rey hid a smile. “I happen to like Jedi. It reminds me of the pubs back home, unlike the stuffy places you and Poe always go for.”</p><p>            Jedi was a basement bar; just the right amount of rough around the edges. It was fun and casual, but it wasn’t so rough that you’d worry about getting stabbed. It was frequented by a lot of agents, being owned by Director Organa’s brother and all.</p><p>            “Well, then maybe you and Cal should risk getting tetanus at Jedi together, and Poe and Finn and I will go to Resistance instead.”</p><p>            Resistance was a much more upscale, lounge-style rooftop bar. It was always Zorii’s choice. Personally, Rey thought it was much too straightlaced, though the cocktails were to die for.</p><p>            “Oh, Zorii,” Cal cut in, “Don’t be so melodramatic. Jedi’s just old, not dirty. You’ve got it mixed up with Darkside.”</p><p>            Rey tuned them out. They did this every Friday morning. Their arguments about the plethora of clubs and bars in the city could go on for hours. Rey focused on her samples instead, tagging the samples with different loci to so she could run the gels. Her micropipette bobbed up and down, up and down as she worked, discarding countless tips in a beaker as she worked, carefully avoiding contamination.</p><p>            She was loading the samples into the wells in the gel when the beeping of her pager yanked her out of her concentration. She finished quickly, turning the charge of the plate on so that the electrophoresis would run in her absence. It was almost lunchtime already, so she’d have to analyze the STRs on her break, but she didn’t mind.</p><p>            “Keep an eye on my gels would you?” she called to Zorii and Cal as she straightened her lab coat and peeled her gloves off. They nodded their assent.</p><p>            Rey had been paged to Erso’s office, which could mean a new assignment outside of the lab. Since she had been trained as a special agent, in addition to her forensics degree, she was often sent to work on cases outside of the lab with Finn. Her experience with crime scene investigation and trace evidence gave her a leg up over a lot of other agents, but with only a year of experience with the Bureau, she hadn’t yet landed that big case. The case that she’d tell recruits one day when she was trying to impress them. All the senior agents had one, even Finn, who was only a few years her senior. He’d gone undercover to help bust a huge child trafficking ring that had operated for years under the radar.</p><p>            One day, Rey would get her story-worthy case, and every day she hoped that today was the day.</p><p>            The elevator dinged and stopped on Finn’s floor, and Rey watched the doors open to reveal Finn’s grinning face. “You too, huh? I guessed as much. Where you think we’re going? I hope it’s Hawaii.”</p><p>            “God, Finn do you ever shut up?” Rey feigned annoyance, but her face lit up with an infectious grin, excited at the prospect of getting a new assignment.</p><p>            “My last assignment was in Alaska and, damn was it miserable. And cold. So cold.”</p><p>            “I guess the answer to my question is a big, fat no.”</p><p>            They grinned at each other like fiends as the elevator slid to a stop.</p><p>            “So, what do you think this is? Murder, kidnapping?” Rey prodded Finn as they walked.</p><p>            “Well, it’s winter, on the cusp of a major holiday, and unseasonably cold and rainy. I’d say murder is my best guess.”</p><p>            Finn, over analytical as he was, happened to be right.</p><p>            Minutes later, they stood in agent Erso’s office, holding airline tickets. To Wyoming. For 9 a.m. the next morning.</p><p>            Rey and Finn exchanged perplexed glances.</p><p>            “Yellowstone National Park.”</p><p>            Special Agent in Charge Jyn Erso had a flair for the dramatic.</p><p>            Rey looked at Finn, then back at agent Erso. “I’m sorry?”</p><p>            “Yellowstone National Park,” Erso repeated, as if they were supposed to understand it with no context, just because she said it twice. “You’re going there, if you hadn’t already guessed from the plane tickets.</p><p>            “There have been four women, all missing from the same part of the park in the past 6 months. Park rangers apparently found a body this morning. Time of death just after dark last night. We can’t be sure that the body is connected to the four disappearances, but after the grisly scene was discovered by a couple guests of the Canyon Lodge this morning, it’s enough to warrant extensive searches of that part of the park, even if just in search of evidence connecting to the body.”</p><p>            Rey’s eyes grew wide. <em>A serial killer</em>.</p><p>            Maybe. She tried not to get too far ahead of herself.</p><p>            Agent Erso continued, “If the homicide turns out to be connected to the disappearances, I’ll send Agent Dameron from headquarters in D.C. and another forensic analyst. Usually, I’d just send a pair of you and leave it at that, but I’m afraid the park rangers will be severely underprepared for this type of situation, if it turns out to be something more than just a single homicide.”</p><p>            She briefed them on their lodging arrangements and transportation and dismissed them, telling them to leave an hour or so early to pack their things and gather their travel documents, though most agents were ready to jet off at any given moment. It was more of a courtesy than a necessity. They’d be staying at the Canyon Lodge, which was disturbingly close to the scene of the murder they’d be investigating. Erso arranged for a rental car to be ready for them at the airport in the morning.</p><p>            Rey walked back to the lab to collect her things in a daze. Zorii and Cal had already left for lunch, so she couldn’t even brag about her new case while she stuffed a transport bag full of evidence collection bags, sample tubes, swabs, and a plethora of other small pieces of equipment she’d need at the crime scene in Yellowstone. She was sure the local police would help provide them with anything they needed, but she liked to be extra prepared.</p><p>            She took the gel plates she’d left earlier and ran them through the imaging software. When the data was entered into the computer, she ran it through CODIS to check for matches before comparing the samples to each other. After recording her findings in her lab book, she searched for the phone number of the police department she needed to call to report the results of the testing.</p><p>            After she made the call, she started the whole process again. The repetition of lab work comforted her. It was steady. Predictable, at least most of the time. Science tended to be like that, and it just made sense to her.</p><p>            At the end of the day, she swapped her lab coat out for her jacket, folding the white coat over her arm. She had extras at home, but she wanted to take this one. Maz, her adoptive mother, had gotten it for her when she graduated college and her name was stitched above the right breast pocket.</p><p>            She scanned out of the lab with an extra spring in her step.</p>
<hr/><p>            “So, Wyoming. Not exactly Hawaii, is it?” Rey asked Finn on their drive home. He was at the wheel this time.</p><p>            He gave her a quick glance, looking away from the road for a second, his lips quirked up in a rueful smile. “Not exactly. It’ll be at least 10 degrees colder there, and the snow will more than likely be a major annoyance during our investigation.”</p><p>            “There goes my plan to get a nice tan.”</p><p>            “Yeah I don’t recommend packing your bikini for this one, peanut.”</p><p>            Rey smiled at the nickname. Dameron had called her that sarcastically when she’d first joined the Academy as a tiny recruit, and it had stuck. She’d hated it at first, and turned murderous whenever she heard it, but it had grown on her. “I don’t know Finn, I heard the hot springs in Wyoming are quite the experience.”</p><p>            Finn gave a little snort. “Girl, you and I both know you’d never take a break from work long enough to visit a hot spring. I have to force you to  leave the lab long enough to eat lunch on a weekly basis.”</p><p>            “Yes, and I have to force you to leave lunch and go back to work. Symbiosis, Finn. Mutually beneficial relationship.”</p><p>            He groaned. “No nerdy science talk please. There’s going to be plenty of that when we reach Wyoming.”</p><p>            They bickered back and forth on the way to their apartment, Rey assuring him that she did have a life outside of work and Finn arguing that he knew she didn’t, considering they did live together.</p><p>            An hour later, she was almost finished packing. Having to travel a lot for the Bureau, plus the fact she’d been a bit of a drifter in her younger days, she’d learned to pack lightly and efficiently. Finn, she knew, would be stuffing clothes in his suitcase full like there was no tomorrow, and she was sure he’d call her in soon to sit on it while he zipped it shut.</p><p>            Sure enough, Rey had just put her lab coat on top and zipped her suitcase when she heard his call from the bedroom across the apartment.</p><p>            “So, you still up to go into the city with the crew tonight?” he asked, his voice strained as her struggled to zip his absurdly full suitcase.</p><p>            “You’re kidding, right? We have to head out tomorrow morning,” Rey replied sitting cross-legged on Finn’s suitcase.</p><p>            “Yeah, at 9. That’s barely even early.”</p><p>            “Anything past noon is early when you’re hungover.”</p><p>            “Then we won’t drink that much.”</p><p>            Rey gave him the side-eye. “Famous last words.”</p><p>            “Oh come on, Rey. Live a little.”</p><p>            He gave her a pleading look as he forced the zipper the rest of the way closed.</p><p>            “Fine.”</p><p>            “Yes!” he cheered, “Peanut, you’re the—”</p><p>            “But!” she interrupted, “only if we can listen to the new Taylor Swift album on the way into the city.”</p><p>            “But it’s so depressing,” Finn whined.</p><p>            “I think you meant to say lyrical masterpiece.”</p><p>            “Fine,” he sniffed, “You’ve got yourself a deal.”</p><p>            “That’s what I thought you’d say,” Rey said triumphantly, a wide grin splitting her face.</p><p>            She practically skipped back to her room to pick out an outfit for the club. She was glad Finn convinced her to go. That’s usually how their outings went. She’d complain about him making her leave the house, but she knew she’d be grateful later, when they were with their friends. Plus, they’d probably stay at a hotel in the city, which would put them closer to the airport.</p><p>            She laid out a lacy, black body suit and black jeans with a chunky belt. She finished the look with a long, black blazer jacket and chunky combat boots with a bit of a platform on the sole. She was glad it was Cal’s pick tonight, or she’d have to pick a fancy cocktail dress and sky-high heels for the fancier clubs the others liked to frequent. Jedi was much more casual, and much more Rey’s style.</p><p>            She dressed and pulled her hair out of its bun, opting to put some curls in it to dress her look up a bit more. She also darkened the makeup on her eyes and applied a coat of red lipstick to liven up her boring, every day look. Sometimes she liked the process of dressing up more than she liked the main event, but she’d never admit that to her friends, not even Finn.</p><p>            “Finn! You better be getting ready, or we’ll be late to yet another social function,” she called from her bathroom, poking her head out the door.</p><p>            They were indeed late to another social function. When they entered the door to Jedi, Cal, Zorii, and Poe were already sitting at the bar, and waved them over. The dance floor was packed, an upbeat song pumping through the speakers and sending vibrations through the floor as Rey and Finn weaved their way through the crowd.</p><p>            “Hey guys!” Zorii greeted, her voice raised to project the words over the music. She had a drink in her hand, as did Cal and Poe, so Rey waved to the bartender and ordered a beer for Finn and some whisky for herself and took the open seat next to Poe.</p><p>            “You look gorgeous, as usual, Rey darling.”</p><p>            Poe’s lips were quirked up in his usual, raffish grin. Rey’s cheeks heated in a blush. She and Poe had been on a couple dates recently, at the suggestion of Finn. They got along all right, and Rey had to admit she enjoyed the male attention.</p><p>            “Hey Poe.”</p><p>            “I heard you and Finn got a big case today. Hopefully I’ll be joining you soon.”</p><p>            He clinked his glass to hers, and Rey knocked her whisky back. A perk of growing up among the seedier crowds in England. She knew how to hold her liquor. She motioned for another. “Yep. Leaving for Wyoming tomorrow morning. Do you know anything about the case yet?”</p><p>            Poe pursed his lips. “I know there’s a handful of missing women out in Yellowstone, and a body that was suspiciously poorly hidden.”</p><p>            “You think it’s connected to the missing women?”</p><p>            Rey leaned toward him, her elbow on the bar.</p><p>            “I don’t know, Rey. On one hand, a body and four other missing women that are all around the same age as the victim is definitely enough to raise eyebrows. Hell, it was enough to warrant sending you and Finn. But, it doesn’t fit. I mean, these women disappeared without a trace. If someone’s taking them, they’re damn good at it, and it doesn’t fit their M.O. to leave a body practically in plain sight.”</p><p>            “Unless they want to be caught,” Rey mused, studying her whisky glass before raising it to her lips. She savored the warmth in her chest as she downed the amber liquid. “Maybe whoever is doing it is tired of not getting any recognition for their crimes. It’s not unheard of.”</p><p>            Poe pondered her statement for a moment. “Not unheard of, but uncommon, I’d say. Why would you risk getting caught when the police don’t even have a body to go on? Finn, what do you think? You’re the expert on crazy.”</p><p>            The others had leaned in, listening to Poe and Rey discuss the case. Finn gave Poe an exasperated look.</p><p>            “I told you, Poe. I prefer ‘expert on abnormal psyches’. But, anyway, Rey’s right, though so are you. It’s not unheard of for serial killers to crave recognition, fame even, for their crimes. I mean, look at Ted Bundy, or even the Zodiac Killer. It’s a classic characteristic of a narcissist. Then again, there’s also the case of Israel Keyes. He begged police to keep the sordid details of his crimes out of the media, and went a very long time without getting caught. I’ll know more when I can see the crime scene and draw up a profile.”</p><p>            He shrugged, draining the rest of his beer.</p><p>            The group was silent for a moment, thinking. Then Zorii sighed, breaking the tension. “Let’s not talk about work.”</p><p>            She pulled Rey by the arm, dragging her to the dance floor. Rey knocked back the rest of her drink, barely having time to set the glass back on the bar before she was swaying with Zorii to the beat.</p><p>            “So,” Zorii yelled over the speakers, “What’s up with you and Poe?”</p><p>            She shimmed her shoulders, wiggling her eyebrows at Rey.</p><p>            Rey giggled, feeling the alcohol warm her body and give her a pleasant fuzzy feeling. “Nothing, Zorii, for the millionth time. We’ve just been on a couple of dates.”</p><p>            “So, you’re telling me,” she paused for dramatic effect, “you haven’t hit that yet?”</p><p>            Rey’s mouth dropped open in a scandalized look. “Zorii! No, I have not ‘hit that’ yet.”</p><p>            They giggled like hyenas.</p><p>            Cal and Poe joined them soon, stopping Zorii’s invasive questions, much to Rey’s relief. Poe’s arm came around to circle her waist, and her heart leapt to her throat. They moved to the beat, the night passing in a haze of drinks and sweat and music, but when Poe whispered in her ear that they should ‘get out of here’, Rey still had the wherewithal to refuse.</p><p>            Back at the bar, she gave him her excuses. “Finn and I have to leave for Wyoming tomorrow. I’ve already drank much more than I should have, and I need to sleep.”</p><p>            “Who said you wouldn’t?”</p><p>            Poe feigned innocence.</p><p>            “I do, Dameron, because I know you too well.”</p><p>            He raised his palms in a ‘you caught me’ kind of gesture. “If you say so, Kanata. One of these days, you’ll give in to my charms, I know it.”</p><p>            He gave her a goofy look, raising on of his eyebrows, before he winked at her. She laughed, rolling her eyes. “Dream on.”</p><p>            “Oh, I will, Rey. Trust me.”</p><p>            She smiled at him, bidding him farewell with a kiss on the cheek before she said goodbye to Cal and Zorii. Finn had called an Uber for them and was waiting by the entrance for her.</p>
<hr/><p>            When they reached their hotel, Rey’s exhaustion hit her. She was going to regret drinking so much in the morning, but, then again, she always did. But, she never regretted spending Friday nights with her friends.</p><p>            She stumbled into the room Finn had booked and half-heartedly took her makeup off before collapsing into one of the beds. Finn was already snoring in the other bed.</p><p>            She almost forgot to set her alarm for the next morning. Almost.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Just a few definitions:</p><p>Agarose gel- the medium used to test DNA via gel electrophoresis</p><p>Gel electrophoresis- a method to separate components of DNA to determine their length</p><p>PCR- a method of amplifying DNA to make a small sample taken from a crime scene and make it large enough to test</p><p>Loci- location on a chromosome. </p><p>STRs- short tandem repeats. These sections of DNA that repeat are found in everyone's DNA, but the number of repeats is unique to each person</p><p>STR analysis- these short tandem repeats are tested at 13 loci (per FBI standards) and compared to a known sample. Gel electrophoresis can reveal the number of repeats on a loci. The profile containing the number of repeats is unique to one person, and the more loci that are tested, the more accurate the match is. </p><p>CODIS- the FBI's national database containing DNA for comparison to unknown samples.</p><p>Thanks to everyone reading, and I hope you enjoyed my first chapter! Let me know what you think in the comments and I'll see you next chapter!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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